Involving Adolescents in End-of-Life Care Discussions

February's Pediatrics journal features a study by Children's National psychologist Maureen Lyon, PhD, and others who studied the use of a "professionally facilitated program to help adolescents living with HIV work with their families to plan ahead for managing their disease long term and include plans for adverse events that might require end-of-life, or palliative care, decisions." These types of programs were shown to increase the level of agreement between the parents and children regarding their medical treatment, and helped facilitate better communication between parents and their children.